Mexican military seeks to oust cartel from port

Soldiers standing on the back of pick-up trucks patrol Lazaro Cardenas, one month after ousting the municipal police in this major Mexican port that had become a drug cartel’s cash machine.

While troops armed with assault rifles ride in borrowed police vehicles, a vice admiral has taken over the administration of the Pacific port, which handles the largest general cargo volume in Mexico.

The military was sent by President Enrique Pena Nieto on November 4 to clean house, forcing the city’s 113 local police officers to undergo vetting exams while replacing the port’s two top civilian jobs with naval officers.